Another FOI at Work moment: A national consumer group is alleging emails they obtained through the Freedom of Information Act reveal an “unnervingly close and direct” relationship between Gov. Martin O’Malley and an attorney for Perdue Farms Inc. The topics covered in 70 pages of emails between O’Malley and Herb Frerichs, general counsel for Perdue [...]
Filed under: 1. Records that matter, 7. Electronic records, FOI At Work | Tagged: e-mail, FOI at work, governors, Maryland | Leave a Comment »
Thanks to this story, which revealed that Madison City Council members are emailing or texting colleagues, lobbyists, staff and others during public meetings, led to this welcome piece of news: Madison City Council members intend to examine rules for emailing and texting during public meetings, and others are calling for a statewide review of such communications [...]
Filed under: 7. Electronic records, FOI At Work, Meetings laws | Tagged: e-mail, FOI at work, Madison City Council, Sunshine Law, texts, Wisconsin | Leave a Comment »
Hmmmm….I am intrigued by this system, but also kind of tickled by some of the details in the story of its launch: Gov. Rick Scott launched a new open records program Thursday dubbed “Project Sunburst,” designed to give the public — and the media — access to the emails to and from the governor and 11 top staff within [...]
Filed under: 4. Finding records, 7. Electronic records, 8. Officials' perspectives | Tagged: e-mail, Florida, governors, Project Sunburst | Leave a Comment »
A frequent tactic in the FOI game is the eye-popping fee for redaction and records preparation. I’d like to say this is an unusual price tag, but I’ve run across several similar stories in the past few months: A group of taxpayers in the Rockwood School District has been told it must pay $18,005 for [...]
Filed under: 5. Request strategies, 6. Overcoming denials, 7. Electronic records | Tagged: e-mail, fees, Missouri, St. Louis | 1 Comment »
This fascinating and informative post from the wonderful Citizen Media Law Project brings the latest in the ongoing saga of requests for police dashcam videos in Seattle, raising timely issues of law, technology and policing… A must read.
Filed under: 3. Access law, 7. Electronic records, 8. Officials' perspectives, Transparency | Tagged: police, Privacy, Seattle, video, Washington | Leave a Comment »
The Wilmington, Delaware, Gannett site has created a really cool visualization….The News Journal acquired eight years worth of parking ticket data from the City of Wilmington that shows where and when vehicles are ticketed. Check it out…very cool!
Filed under: 2. Doc state of mind, 7. Electronic records | Tagged: data, data visualizations, Delaware, parking tickets | Leave a Comment »
This is a case worth watching, as this issue bedevils FOI advocates across the country: officials using e-mail to skirt open meetings laws… Virginia’s Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments Monday in a case arising from Fairfax County schools that could impose new limits on how elected officials use e-mail to discuss public business. [...]
Filed under: 3. Access law, 7. Electronic records, Open meetings laws | Tagged: e-mail, open meetings laws, Virginia | Leave a Comment »
Is it just me, or did you think we had kind of already settled this point of law a decade ago? Accident reports compiled by troopers and maintained in a state database should be treated as public records available by request, Washington’s Supreme Court ruled Thursday. Justices said in their 7-2 decision that the Washington [...]
Filed under: 2. Doc state of mind, 3. Access law, 6. Overcoming denials, 7. Electronic records | Tagged: accident reports, database, Washington State | Leave a Comment »
KOMO, in Seattle, won a major victory — with an ironic twist, and one that will keep them waiting up to three years to see police dashboard cam videos. The irony? When they asked for millions of dollars to buy the cameras, openness was one of the major selling points… The KOMO 4 Problem Solvers sued [...]
Filed under: 3. Access law, 6. Overcoming denials, 7. Electronic records | Tagged: dashcam videos, KOMO, KOMO-TV, Seattle Police Department, videos | Leave a Comment »
